The Piano Man
by pleasant-hell
Summary: Brittany and Santana try to sort out the mystery that is Brad the Piano Man. Implied Britanna.


One day during glee practice, Brittany was unusually quiet. She kept her eyes on the far end of the room, watching someone. Finally she leaned over to Santana and whispered, "Does he like, live here or something?"

Santana raised an eyebrow and whispered back.

"The piano guy."

The head Cheerio's eyes went to the mysterious man behind the piano. For once, Brittany asked a legitimate question. He always seemed to be around, no matter what time of day it was. One time Santana was sure she saw him walking around the school after a late cheerleading practice. It completely creeped her out to the point where she sprinted to her car and locked the doors after she got in.

"He's creepy," Brittany whispered again.

Santana nodded in agreement, both of their eyes fixed on him as he played a little warm up. Brittany scooted a little closer to Santana because the more she thought about it the more he was really starting to weird her out.

"Let's follow him," Santana stated.

"What?" Brittany ripped her eyes off of the man to look at the cheerleader next to her.

Santana nodded, "Just to make sure he leaves. Then after he leaves we can go home. Besides, we both know you won't be able to sleep if you don't know for sure."

Brittany thought it over and finally nodded, "Alright."

So after cheerleading practice, they both took their time showering and changing. Before they got dressed, the rest of the squad had gone home. So they put their clean uniforms on and walked out of the locker room.

They carefully snuck past Coach Sylvester's office where the light was still on and the sounds of an exercise video snuck through the cracks. They exchanged an amused glance. If they weren't on a mission, and completely terrified of her, they would have tried to sneak a peek.

Finally making it to the glee, room they peeked in the window and sure enough there he was sitting behind the piano, playing some sort of jazz melody.

"What do we do?" Brittany whispered, "Just wait until he leaves?"

Santana nodded. "We'll take turns watching him. You can sit down and I'll watch first."

Brittany sat on the floor against a row of lockers and played with her hair, while Santana squatted by the window, just watching. It didn't take long for the sun to go down and the hallways to get dark. The only light came from a few classrooms where the teachers forgot to turn them off and the glee room.

"Okay switch with me," Santana's quads were burning from squatting. She sat on the cold tile floor while Brittany took over.

"Uh, San, where is he?" Brittany asked in a hurried, hushed voice.

Santana shot back up and look in the window. He was gone. There were only two ways to get out of the glee room and both of them led to the hallway they were in.

Suddenly they heard the knob turn on the second doorway. Santana grabbed Brittany's hand and drug her down the hallway ducking into a small alcove that housed the girls' restroom. Santana glanced around the corner and saw that he was walking their way with a briefcase in his hand.

She pushed Brittany into the dark bathroom and silently closed the door behind them. The only light came from the tall space between the bottom of the door and the ground. Santana felt Brittany stand close and hold her hand.

"I'm going to look under the door," Santana whispered to Brittany, their faces centimeters apart.

A long shaky breath came from Brittany before she let go of Santana's hand. The head cheerleader got on her knees and lowers her face so she could watch the space. She quietly gasped when she saw two feet land in front of the door, but keep moving forward.

As soon as she stood up again, Brittany took her hand and stood behind Santana, her front pressed against Santana's back. Santana brushed her thumb against the top of Brittany's hand, "Don't worry about it. We're just freaking out for nothing."

Very carefully, Santana opened the door and looked out. The lights on the glee room where off and the piano man was nowhere to be seen.

They tiptoed out of the bathroom hand in hand, hearts pounding as they traveled down the hallway in the direction he went in. They passed Coach Sylvester's office again to find it dark and locked up. Finally they found the last light on in the entire school. It was in the auditorium.

Santana figured that if he was in there, he went in the door closest to the glee room. Since there were four other entrances, all a lot farther to walk than the first one, they passed the first one and went to the one farthest away.

Before Santana could open the door, Brittany pulled her back, "I'm scared. What if he's a serial killer?"

If Brittany had asked that question before tonight, Santana would have just laughed and assured her that nothing was wrong with him, but after sneaking around the school following him, there was something that seemed serial killer-ish about him. Especially the fact that he was in the school after all the other teachers and students left.

"I'll protect you," Santana offered a reassuring, but completely fake smile. She gave Brittany a peck on the lips that she knew would ease the blonde's mind, "I promise."

Brittany just nodded after that and followed Santana into the auditorium. They came in the back so Santana pulled Brittany to the last row of seats and crouched down there. The piano man was walking across the stage oblivious to their presence. At least he was until the door slammed behind them.

Brittany tried, but couldn't catch the door in time so she jumped between the rows before he could see her. Unfortunately she landed on top of Santana. She started to get up, but Santana held her there just listening.

"Who's there?" he called out into the audience.

Brittany closed her eyes and held her breath hoping that he wouldn't come to the back of the theatre and find them. She didn't want to be a picture that flashed on the TV during one of those shows her mom was always watching about serial killers and murders.

Santana had her head cocked to the side and listened. There were definitely footsteps coming down the stage stairs. "Shit," she hissed and pushed Brittany a little so she could shimmy out from under her.

They started crawling to the far end of the row as the steps got closer. Soon they made it out into the isle opposite isle the man was on and crawled down the isle until they heard the door open. Santana snuck a peek and saw he was standing in the doorway, looking out into the hall. There was a long, shiny object in his hand, but she didn't get to have a good look at it because when he turned around, he looked right at her.

"Hey!" he yelled at her.

Santana felt herself behind pulled out of the auditorium by Brittany and into the hallway. The door burst open right after them and the man stepped out.

Santana finally got her wits about her and started sprinting after Brittany down the hall. They both tried doors on either side of the hallway, but none were open. They could hear his footsteps getting closer and closer. Just as he was about to turn the corner, Brittany found an open classroom and pulled Santana into it.

They both jumped behind a file cabinet and closed their eyes praying that he wouldn't check this classroom. After managing to calm her breathing, Santana crept to the window on the door and looked out. The piano man was walking down the hallway. She ducked back down and scooted back to Brittany. She whispered, "We have to put something in front of the door, but we have to be quiet."

The blonde nodded. They were able to make it though the classroom without making much noise because the streetlamp outside shone directly into the classroom blinds, making the classroom striped down one side. They picked up one of the tables and put it in front of the door. Santana knew if the man really wanted to get it than that table wouldn't keep him out for long, but at least it would slow him down and the noise of the table scraping across the ground would alert them.

Once it was firmly in place, Brittany and Santana went to hide behind the teacher's desk. They finally caught their breath, sitting next to each other under the chalkboard. "

"Did you see what was in his hand?" Brittany asked wide-eyed.

Santana shook her head, "I saw that it was metal, but that's it."

"Me too," Brittany nodded, before putting her head on Santana's shoulder,

The brunette finally got a chance to take in their surroundings. Santana didn't notice that she came into this room everyday. "This is Mr. Shue's room."

Brittany nodded again, stifling a yawn.

Santana stayed awake and alert for as long as possible, but it wasn't long before they both fell asleep behind Mr. Shue's desk with their backs against the wall, under the chalkboard.

The next morning, Mr. Shue walked down the bright hallways humming a show tune and twirling his keys around his finger. He said hi to a few other teachers before walking to his room. When he got there he put the key into the lock and turned it back. He smiled at himself, knowing he forgot to lock the door yesterday because he was so excited about the glee number he'd been working on.

However when he tried to open it, it seemed stuck. He looked in the window and saw that there was a table in front of the door. With one big heave he pushed the door open and the table back.

When he walked into the classroom, he saw that there were two Cheerios being aroused from their sleep on the ground next to his desk. "Brittany? Santana? What are you doing in here?"

At the first sight of Mr. Sue, a still groggy Brittany jumped and buried her face in Santana. For her part the head Cheerio shot up and surveyed the room.

"What happened to you two?" Mr. Shuester set down his bag and knelt next to them.

Santana rubbed her eyes, "Some shady guy was hanging around in the hallways after practice yesterday and freaked us out." She slowly stood, sore from sleeping on the cold hard ground, "Sorry. It won't happen again."

"What guy?" Mr. Shue asked, helping Brittany up, "I think we should report it to campus security. We don't want this guy hanging around school ground scaring people."

Brittany looked at Santana who subtly shook her head. The blonde looked at Mr. Shue and shrugged. Mr. Shue looked at Santana for clarification.

"We didn't really see him. It was dark," Santana answered, glancing at the clock, "We'll stop by security at lunch though and give them a heads up."

Mr. Shue nodded, "Do you two need anything?"

"We need to go take a shower," Santana linked her pinkie with Brittany's.

"Don't you need to eat?" He asked, leaning back on his desk.

Brittany looked at Santana who nodded, "We'll find something."

"Why don't you two come back here after your shower and I'll grab something from the teacher's lounge for you?" he offered with a fatherly tone.

Brittany smiled, "Thanks Mr. Shue."

He smiled back, "No problem."

After their shower in the Cheerio locker room, they put their uniforms back and redid each other's hair. Finally after half an hour, they made it back to Mr. Shue's classroom. There was still another half hour until school started so they sat at the tables eating donuts he swiped from the teacher's lounge.

"Since you're here," Mr. Shuester leaned back on his desk, "I was wondering if you two would like to do a song together next week."

Brittany beamed and at that Santana nodded, "Sure. What do you want us to do?"

He shrugged, "Find something you like. I'm sure Brad would love to help you pick something out."

"Brad?" Brittany asked, cocking her head to the side, "The hockey player?"

"No, the guy that plays the piano," Mr. Shue raised an eyebrow, "He's been at every single glee practice we've had."

The blonde's eyes went wide and she turned to Santana. The head cheerleader, always able to think on her feet, answered, "I think we can figure something out Mr. Shue. Thanks for breakfast." She added before pulling Brittany out the door.

The rest of the day they both dreaded going to glee for the first time since they joined. Brittany was busy the whole day trying to convince herself that Brad the Piano Guy/Serial Killer wouldn't kill them in public and Santana was trying to convince herself that he was not a serial killer and he didn't really chase them around the school with a knife last night.

They waited outside the glee room until someone else went in so if something happened there would be a witness. So after Kurt walked in, they took the long way to their seats, holding each other's hands and trying not to freak out. They sit in the chairs farthest away from the piano and scoot their chairs close together.

Finally Mr. Shuester walked in and made a few announcements adding that next week Brittany and Santana would be doing a duet. They got a few encouraging smiles and some claps, but they were mostly focused on the doors, hoping that whatever song they were doing as a group today used a CD instead of the piano.

Suddenly, Brittany gasped next to Santana who was listening to Mr. Shuester. She looked to where Brittany was looking. Brad walked in with a microphone in his hand. He silently went over to the cabinet and took out a shiny metal objected.

Santana put herself between Brad and Brittany just in case something was about to go down. When Brad turned from the cabinet, Santana let out a long sigh of relief. The thing in his hand and what he was probably carrying around last night was a screwdriver.

"Hold on Brad," Mr. Shuester stopped him from walking out, "I don't know if any of you have noticed, but Brad here has been working really hard on the microphone problem we've been having in the auditorium. He's been staying here late as well as teaching his regular music class so I'd like you to all thank him."

A resounding 'thank you' followed by a few claps sounded before Brad bowed and walked out.

Santana sunk into her seat and closed her eyes.

"He's not a serial killer?" Brittany asked Santana quietly.

Santana shook her head, "I don't think so."

"Good," Brittany smiled and then frowned, "He still freaks me out though."

The brunette smiled softly and took Brittany's hand, "Yeah. Me too."

"You said you'd protect me and you did or…you were going to," Brittany let out a dazzling smile, realizing what Santana had done earlier.

Santana smirked, "Of course."

Brittany bit her lip and looked Santana over with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, "Do you wanna get out of here?"

The other Cheerio looked around, "We're in the middle of glee."

"Easy," Brittany raised her hand.

Mr. Shue stopped talking to acknowledge her, "Yes Brittany?"

"Can Santana and I go work on our song in the dance room?"

He smiled, "Sure. I'm glad you're excited about your duet."

Sometimes Brittany's moments of brilliance amazed Santana. They walked out pinkie in pinkie to the dance room. The look in Brittany's eyes told Santana she was thinking of how she was going to thank Santana for her heroism. Santana couldn't think of a way to prepare for their duet more.


End file.
